Dining in style at David Cameron’s favourite Italian

It is impossible to think about any Italian region without wondering ‘What if?’ Sardinia lacks the glamour, grandeur and menace of Sicily, but it is still a fascinating exemplar of Mediterranean culture: the different historical strata stretching back to pre-history. So: what if the mediaeval rulers of Aragon had been more enduring? What if the Catholic kings had never married? There is no reason why Barcelona should have been ruled from Madrid: still less for the Sardinians to be governed by Turin. A sea-girt Aragonese kingdom, including the Languedoc, Sardinia and Sicily — that would have been a glorious flowering of civilisation and romance: Venus emerging from a scallop shell.

The Angevins, driven from the Mediterranean, could have contented themselves with bringing good government to their French domains, subordinated to London. Meanwhile, a Burgundian middle kingdom — a revived Lotharingia under the Hapsburgs — would have been a rival centre of the graces and the arts.